Let not your heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in me. There are many homes up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with me where I am. If this weren’t so, I would tell you plainly.
John 14: 1-3 TLB
“Why do we live in houses?” My third-graders looked a bit puzzled when I posed this question.
One student raised his hand and said, “That’s a good question because Adam and Eve didn’t live in a house, right?” That was exactly where I wanted to go. Today we live in houses for the sake of safety. We need protection from the weather and danger. This is so different from the Garden of Eden, where everything was safe. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.
Jesus knew that we need a place of safety, and it is exactly what He promised. In today’s verse, we read that He is preparing houses in heaven for us to live with Him. I could tell that morning my students liked the thought. But being born in Switzerland, they did not long for it the way another student of mine had some years earlier. I had been teaching in a remote village in the Philippines. Jomel was about ten years old. His family was one of the poorest in the village. Their house stood literally in a swamp of dirt and trash. Under the leaking roof, there was not much except a smoky cooking area and a platform for sleeping.
One morning we talked about God’s plan for us and how He wants to save us and live with us in heaven. The children memorized John 14:1-3, and we discussed it. When asked, “What is Jesus doing in heaven now?” Jomel suggested Jesus is preparing a “sleeping place.” How precious for him to know that God is preparing a sleeping place for him! I think Jomel understood something very important that I sometimes miss because I have everything I need.
Are you longing for the better place that God is preparing? Whether you live in an ugly place you detest or have a beautiful home you love, God is preparing something far better for you. We can’t even imagine how wonderful. I’m looking forward to the sleeping place my God is preparing especially for me, like He once did for Adam and Eve! God would love to prepare one for you, too, if you decide to let Him take you. Make that decision today!
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Simea Kübler is a teacher at the Seventh-day Adventist school in Zurich, Switzerland.